Sadly, I got a YouTube copyright claim early this morning that a video remix I made more than two more years is no longer available in places like Aland Islands, Saint Barthelemy and much to my chagrin, Wallis and Futuna. At least YouTube gives me a bit of Geography to learn.

It’s a sign of how weird this all is that the link to view the claim details they sent me, as shown on my iPhone, still hinges on the modern technology of Flash:

OH NO I CANNOT SEE THIS WITHOUT FLASH????

Let’s look into this.

About 2 years ago I watched a rather visceral short video by Tim Maughan from a tour he had of a factory in China where the material decorations and doo-dads of Christmas are hand sewn and glue gunned by mostly low paid women in a hot factory in China.

It seems to contrast with the commercial representation of Christmas being cheerfully crafted by north pole elves. SO for fun I decided to use the side by side video effect in iMovie to literally play a Tim’s video along side an old Santas Workshop video (from 1932) I also found in YouTube.

Here it is, although people in Guinea-Bissau, Macao, Timor-Leste and 240 other countries will miss it.

I was rather pleased, without any editing, how the two contrasting images of Christmas being made, matched up. Some might even consider this “for criticism or analysis” or “satire” even maybe “academic inquiry”.

Not according to Universal Music. According to “The YouTube Team” (who sent me an email):

Due to a copyright claim, your YouTube video has been blocked in some countries. This means that your video is still up on YouTube, but people in some countries may not be able to watch it.

“Some” countries is 243. I wonder how those ones were selected to be blocked.

Why?

Your video might contain copyrighted content.

“might contain”

Copyright owners can choose to block YouTube videos that contain their content.

But there it is, Roman numeralized in the bottom right of the opening screen.

And Disney has managed to push the length of copyright on videos to 95 years.

I wonder if YouTube will fix my video in 11 years.

So technically, I must tell the fine folks in Guernsey, Liechtenstein, and Tokelau, that I do not have a Christmas tote bag to lean on.

Essentially my copyright violation is playing two videos side by side, like I might have done so with two laptops. Well not exactly, because it’s not just viewing, I took that 84 year old video and made something new with it as social commentary. That is bad. All we are allowed to do by law is watch video, not create with it.

Who is copyright protecting? The original laws were aimed at the individual maker, to give them a chance to tinker, create, and make a living off their craft for a period long enough for it to go to market.

Was it really intended to lock up content by humongous multinational corporations just for their long term gain? How much money has Disney made lately from this 84 year old Santa’s Workshop video? How is my little remix even close to a financial threat to them? What cartoon needs protection 95 years?

No Suriname, Lesotho, and Holy See (Wow, the Pope cannot watch my mashup!)– I am legally wrong. YouTube and UMG is right. By the law.

But to me, and maybe the citizens of Saint Pierre and Miquelon– this is just stupid.

I will keep doing what I can to protest, to keep mashing up pop culture, for my friends in Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

UPDATE October 2, 2016: They blocked it in Canada too! This act of blockage will not stand. Cueing vimeo…

Top / Featured Image: a bit of an iPhone screen shot of a YouTube Copyright Claim notice, listing all the countries who are mourning the loss of viewing my little video. Who cares about the rights on this?

The post "Blocked in Belarus (and 242 other countries)" was originally rescued from the bottom of a stangant pond at CogDogBlog (http://cogdogblog.com/2016/10/blocked-in-belarus-and-242-other-countries/) on October 1, 2016.

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6 Comments

Among those countries where it’s blocked? US, UK and Egypt. So lots of your actual friends can’t see it. Good point questioning whether this is really a copyright violation (philosophically and legally)

Quick Comment to say that the Western Sahara is a territory located South the Kingdom of Morocco. It has never been a sovereign country. It was Morocco land before the Spanish colonization in 1912 and it retrieved the homeland Morocco in 1975 after 63 years of colonization. Thanks

Thanks for that info, I mean it. The world is a challenging place to know, much less name. But that list came directly from YouTube. Sadly if YouTube says it’s a country I am not sure a puny blogger like me can do anything.